


Off the Grid

by KiyoshiTanaka



Series: Baby Bump [10]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Camping, Family Bonding, M/M, Outdoor Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 20:14:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8071138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiyoshiTanaka/pseuds/KiyoshiTanaka
Summary: Spock and Jim take their girls camping--the old-fashioned way.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Maruka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maruka/gifts).



> So this story takes place shortly after '17 Years Old: Pi'ko'kan T'nash-veh.'
> 
> It was written for the lovely Maruka, who took the time to read and comment on every single installment of 'Baby Bump.' They requested this story, so here it is.
> 
> Maruka, I hope you enjoy this. I tried to include everything from your second prompt and I think I more or less succeeded. Well, excepting your request for barbeque. I didn't include a full-on barbeque for the simple reason that as Vulcans, Spock, Sarek, and the girls are vegetarians, and Jim never did regain his taste for red meat after his pregnancy with Bump. Also, I do intend to write your first prompt at some point, but I haven't quite gotten around to it.
> 
> If there is anything you would like to see in this universe (something that is mentioned but not elaborated on in another story, simply wanting to see more of a specific character), feel free to request it. I cannot promise to fulfill these requests, particularly if they don't fit my perception of the universe I've built with Jim, Spock, and their girls. But I love this universe, and would like to keep writing in it, so if there's anything specific, let me know.
> 
> \--KT

“ _Dad_ ,” Astraea objected.

“Hand it over,” Jim repeated.

“But—”

“Astraea,” Jim interrupted, “We need to spend some quality time together, as a family.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to take my PADD away from me,” Astraea complained.

“We’re going off-grid,” Jim answered. “You can argue all you want, but that’s how it is.”

Astraea huffed and finally handed over the PADD. “I think this is a terrible idea.”

“Well, I think we need to spend more time as a family,” Jim answered. “And your _Sa-mekh_ agrees with me.”

“So we’re going to spend days out in the woods, without a shower, without a real toilet, without any real shelter?”

“Camping is part of the Human experience,” Jim invented.

“First of all, there are plenty of people who have never gone camping before,” Bump argued. “Second, I’m only part-Human. Camping doesn’t have to be part of _my_ experience.”

Spock chose that moment to intervene. “Astraea, I know you dislike the idea of being off-grid. The thought is uncomfortable for me as well. Unfortunately for both of us, the only person I have ever met who is more stubborn than you is your dad. He wishes for us to go camping as a family. Arguing something that will cause us no harm is illogical and a waste of energy.”

“It’s still a terrible idea.”

§§§

Jim looked at the tents critically. One was _hopefully_ large enough to be comfortable for all four of their daughters. One was single-person, big enough for Sarek and no one else. The last certainly didn’t have room for more than Jim and Spock. They’d have to do. If it was too uncomfortable tonight, they could go into town tomorrow and pick up another one.

“It’s nearly dark,” Jim said, “We should start the fire.”

Spock promptly propped some wood together with some kindling and after several minutes attempting to light the fire, handed the flint to Jim. Jim’s experienced hand brought a spark to the kindling and a fire was blazing in the middle of their campground a short time later.

Jim produced a package of vegetarian hot dogs and watched as his family struggled to cook them. This had been a good idea. They all _sucked_ at it. Aside from the bonding time, his family really had no survival skills when they were on-planet. It was downright dangerous. Spock managed, but Jim could tell that was because of his logic and intelligence, not because he had any practical experience roughing it. Jim was the only one here who knew how to survive off the land, and while he wouldn’t wish his own experience on anyone— _no one_ deserved Tarsus IV—he did think his family needed to be able to survive more efficiently than they could now. As far as Jim was concerned, the hot dogs were cheating. But this camping trip was first and foremost a fun, bonding trip; survival exercise came in a distant second.

Just after supper, Sarek said, “Amanda loved camping.”

Everyone fell silent. Jim was surprised. The only times Jim ever heard Sarek speak about Amanda were when someone else asked or when he’d had some chocolate. And when someone else asked, they didn’t always get a response. Jim was well aware that the girls knew far less of their _ko-mekh-il_ than they would have liked, but Amanda was a painful subject for Sarek—even more so for Spock.

“She liked camping on Earth best, but on Vulcan it pleased her as well,” Sarek continued, staring into the flames. “There were days I would come home from the Academy or from the Embassy and there would be nothing more than a note on the counter, telling me she was taking the tent and the sehlat with her. She wouldn’t tell me where she was going, beyond that one phrase, ‘communing with nature.’ I always worried while she was gone, and missed her, yet when she came home, she was always so radiant, exuberant. Full of _life_. I couldn’t resent her for her short trips when they clearly filled her with joy.”

“Did you ever go camping with her?” Ashalynn asked. Jim knew that Ashalynn wanted to know more about Amanda than any of their other daughters—she was named for her _ko-mekh-il_ , after all.

“On occasion,” Sarek replied. “I did not enjoy it as she did, however. And camping was something she enjoyed doing alone. As a Human living on Vulcan, it gave her an opportunity to be open in a way she could never be elsewhere, particularly as an Ambassador’s wife. She could show as much emotion as she pleased without fear of judgment. I know I could have found her had I looked. Aside from our bond, I doubt she ever left our property. There were times I could hear her singing, and I knew her tent was set up just beyond the ridge.”

“She sang a lot?” Lennie asked.

“Very often,” Sarek answered. “Music is not anathema to Vulcans, but the frequency with which she sang was. Her voice was beautiful. It is perhaps the thing I miss most frequently.”

“ _Sa’mekh’al_ ,” Astraea asked quietly, “Why did you marry a Human? I mean, I’m glad you did, but I’ve always wondered why.”

“My parents would not have understood, and her parents certainly did not understand, so we shrouded it in the disguise of a political match. She came from money, you must understand, as well as her father being a Starfleet Admiral.” That was news to Jim. “I was slated to be an Ambassador in the near future. That was the reasoning we used with everyone. Political, Human-Vulcan relations. The truth of the matter was, we loved one another. I cannot even begin to express how much I love her, even now,” Sarek finished.

Sarek looked away, and Jim knew the conversation was over. Sarek had already spoken more about Amanda at one time than Jim had heard in the entire seventeen years since Sarek became his father-in-law.

“So,” Jim said when the silence grew too loud, “How about some stories? Spock, you want to go first?” He had no idea what kind of ghost story Spock would tell, but as his husband’s storytelling left a lot to be desired, it was sure to be entertaining.

“Very well,” Spock said. “According to Human Greek Mythology, Astraea was a goddess. She was the daughter of Astraeus, the god of dusk, and Eos, the goddess of the dawn. She was the virgin goddess of innocence, and remained among the mortals longer than any of the other gods. When the Golden Age of Humanity ended, ashamed of their wickedness, she fled to the skies and became the constellation Virgo.”

That was definitely not what Jim had had in mind. Perhaps he should have been more clear. “Spock, we all know the story of Astraea. I meant a _ghost_ story. Like people traditionally tell around a campfire.”

“I see,” Spock said. “I do not know any such stories.”

“Ghost stories? Dad, that’s lame,” Bump complained.

“Not the way I tell them.”

Jim was happy that the triplets were still young enough to enjoy listening to his stories—he knew it wouldn’t last much longer, so he would savor it while he could. It helped that Astraea didn’t mind his stories as much as she pretended to.

So he thought over his experiences in space—it certainly didn’t _feel_ like twenty years as Captain of the _Enterprise_ , but damned if it wasn’t—and finally settled on a suitable story.

“Once, when Bump was still a baby, your _Sa-mekh_ and I beamed down to a planet together. Uncle Scotty was left in charge of the _Enterprise_ , and Bump was with _Sa’mekh’al_ ,” Jim began. “The planet was called… well, the name the Federation has given it is Relicum In Praeteritum, or Rip. I guess that’s more or less what they call their own planet as well. The strangest thing about this planet was that it wasn’t _really_ a planet; it wasn’t orbiting a star, or any other large body. It was orbiting empty space.”

“Daddy, that doesn’t make sense,” Astraea interrupted. “A large mass in space can’t just revolve around _nothing_.”

“Well this one did,” Jim replied adamantly. “I still don’t know how or why, all I know is that it did. All the warmth of the planet was produced by its superheated core, and all the light came from self-luminescent plants and animals. So we beamed down and we were greeted by a woman. She introduced herself as Wimble—”

“ _Wimble_?” Astraea interrupted again. “Dad, if you’re going to make stuff up, at least make it a bit more believable.”

“Astraea,” Spock said, “Your dad is telling the truth. That is the name of the woman we met on Relicum In Praeteritum.”

Astraea huffed but let the matter rest, likely because she knew her _sa-mekh_ couldn’t lie. Jim grinned and moved on with his story.

“Well, Wimble introduced us to some of her friends and then asked if we could help them. We agreed, figuring if they needed our help, we could offer some assistance. What we weren’t counting on was the issue involved ghosts.”

“ _Dad_ ,” Astraea complained.

“Astraea,” Jim said, “There are too many things that the universe has to offer for you to complain about something like ghosts. After all, you have met your _sa-mekh_ ’s counterpart. You know that there is a mirror universe out there. Why are the spirits of the dead so unbelievable?”

“I just think telling ghost stories around a campfire is cliché,” she answered.

Jim smiled. “The cliché is half the fun. Now, back to Wimble. She was young, seeming about sixteen or seventeen, although there’s never a way to truly tell, since every species ages differently. And she and her friends explained their problem—they were all haunted by their future selves. And not just one future self, but multiples.

“They couldn’t hear the words their future selves spoke, but they could see them. Only glimpses and only once in a while, but it scared them. So Spock and I began to investigate. Before long, we were able to isolate one of Wimble’s futures, one where she was older than your _sa’mekh’al_. And for her, she was haunted by her _past_ selves. The difference was that she could hear them as well, although their words weren’t always clear.

“So Spock and I set about finding an answer. After a while, we came across a man named Hallinet. He seemed to be about the same age as Wimble’s oldest self, so we asked if he knew her. He frowned and told us, ‘Wimble was my mother’s name. She died twenty two cycles ago.’ He showed us a picture of her when she was young—a picture of our young Wimble. And then he took us to her grave.

“Wimble and her friends existed outside of time, able to catch glimpses of their past and future selves while never knowing that they had already died. Or perhaps they had not yet been born. I don’t know. The landscape of the planet constantly changed, drastic differences that can only happen over the course of millennia. We seemed to exist in only one time, but what time that was kept changing.

“After we left the planet, it vanished. It has appeared and disappeared at regular intervals since then, but we’ve never gone back. It’s a forbidden planet now; the Federation doesn’t want anyone on-planet when it goes through its futuristic or past destruction. A planet outside time. Ghosts but not ghosts,” Jim concluded.

His daughters stared at him. Finally, Spock said, “Jim, that is not exactly what happened. You are leaving out the part where we—”

“I’m leaving that part out on _purpose_ ,” Jim answered. “Wa’, Cha’, and Wej are too young, and Bump doesn’t want to hear it.”

“Hear what?” Astraea demanded.

“You walked in on us once,” Jim reminded her. “I didn’t think you’d appreciate me including that kind of thing in the story.”

“Ew.”

“I want to know!” Chrystal said.

“They had sex,” Lennie said matter-of-factly.

Jim covered his face and muttered to his husband, “You just had to say something, didn’t you?”

“I merely thought to give them the most accurate portrayal of the situation,” Spock answered. “And are you certain this counts as a ‘ghost story’? I was under the impression that ghost stories were meant to frighten the audience.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t like scaring people,” Jim answered.

“That is untrue,” Sarek said. “You scare people on a consistent basis and enjoy the responses you receive.”

“My father is correct,” Spock added. They just had to team up on him, didn’t they?

“Scaring Cadets and Ensigns is different than scaring my own children,” Jim answered.

“You terrify Mike and Seb as often as you can,” Astraea argued.

“Nephews are different than daughters,” Jim asserted.

“You just have an answer for everything, don’t you, Daddy?” Asha asked.

“Yes,” Jim answered.

“I’m going to bed,” Astraea said. “This is enough bonding for one night.”

“Goodnight, Bump,” Jim said, standing up to kiss her cheek. “Come get us if you need anything.”

“No. I know the two of you. If I need something, I’m asking _Sa’mekh’al_.”

Jim choked. He hadn’t _planned_ on having sex with Spock tonight, but now that the idea was in his head… Given the way Spock’s fingers were suddenly stroking Jim’s own, Spock was suddenly onboard as well. And really, it wasn’t _just_ a kiss; Spock was giving Jim the Vulcan equivalent of tongue. Oh, please God, let Spock have packed some lube. Now that he was thinking about it, he wasn’t sure he could survive this trip without Spock fucking him at least once.

“You should probably go to bed as well, girls,” Jim said to the other three. “We have an early morning, remember. Horseback riding through the mountains.”

“Fine,” they grumbled, standing and kissing first Spock’s cheek and then Jim’s. “Goodnight.”

Spock just kept giving him Vulcan-tongue. “Goodnight, Astraea,” Spock said. “Lennie, Chrystal, Ashalynn. We will see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight,” they all chimed again before Astraea pushed the triplets toward their tent. Jim realized that—at some point in the conversation—Sarek had evidently been embarrassed enough to go to his own tent. Jim was positive what Spock was doing to him at the moment was more than a sober Sarek could handle.

Jim turned to Spock and said, “Do you have to do that? I mean, it’s bad enough when you do stuff like that on the bridge. Do you have to do that when we’re talking to our _daughters_?”

“I’m simply kissing you,” Spock answered.

Jim glowered, but it only lasted a moment before Spock pulled him down, crushing their lips together. “I love you, _Ashalik_ ,” Spock murmured.

“I love you,” Jim returned. “Now please tell me you brought lube. I’ve never had sex outside before and the idea is really, _really_ appealing right now.”

“You are shameless,” Spock said against Jim’s lips. “Our daughters are right there. A canvas tent is nowhere near as soundproof as the walls of our quarters. And you manage to shout loud enough to be heard through those. Is my fucking you at this time really wise?”

“You started this, you damn well better finish it,” Jim growled, biting Spock’s lower lip.

Spock groaned and rolled them over, pinning Jim to the ground a few feet away from the fire. “The lube is in the tent.”

“You have ten seconds or I’m starting without you,” Jim answered.

Jim didn’t bother waiting the ten seconds before he began stripping off his clothes, making sure to toss them in the direction away from the fire. When Spock got back, he too undressed, although the infuriating man took the time to fold his clothes. Why fold them when he was just going to put them on the dirty ground anyway?

Finally, though, Spock was naked and on top of him, rubbing their cocks together. The friction was just right, and Jim knew he could get off like this, but that wasn’t what he wanted, at least not for his first time having sex under the stars. He wanted Spock inside him for that. So he whispered, “Don’t stretch me tonight. Just use lube.”

“Jim—”

“Spock, if you go slow, I’ll be fine,” Jim murmured. “And that’s how I want it tonight. Slow, soft.”

“Very well,” Spock agreed. He slicked his cock and then positioned himself against Jim, Jim’s legs around his hips. “Are you positive, Jim?”

“Yes.”

Spock pushed in and it was the most heavenly burn Jim had felt in a long time. They didn’t do this often, sex without fingering, but when they did, the burn was sweet, beautiful in a way Jim could only communicate to Spock through the bond, since words were never enough. He grasped Spock’s shoulders and pressed himself back against Spock’s hips, begging, “Move.”

Spock did, slow and steady, rocking in and out of Jim with a gentleness that belied his strength. Jim pulled his husband down for a kiss as he felt the burning stretch of his muscles giving way for Spock, the fullness of it, the gentle caress of Spock’s hand on his cock.

Jim broke the kiss and pulled Spock’s hand away from his cock. “Just you,” Jim whispered. “Just you inside me, nothing else. That’s how I want it tonight.” And before Spock could answer, Jim drew Spock’s sensitive fingers into his mouth, sucking on them, flicking his tongue against them, doing everything with his mouth that he would if he were blowing Spock. Spock groaned and his hips stuttered.

“Jim,” he gasped. “This will be over long before you come if you do not cease fellating my fingers.”

Jim allowed Spock to pull his fingers away and the now-slick digits returned to Jim’s cock, teasing him to the brink and beyond. Spock swallowed Jim’s cries and came himself.

They lay together for several minutes, catching their breath. “God, I wish I was young enough to go again,” Jim said. “That was amazing.”

“Indeed,” Spock agreed, slipping out of Jim and glancing up at the sky. “There is something to be said for making love beneath the stars as well as among them.”


End file.
